725 applications for SNSF Swiss Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023

© Christian Frierl / Universität Basel

These applications will now be evaluated by the National Research Council and the evaluation panels appointed by it.

The 725 projects are distributed across the research areas as follows: 313 in mathematics, natural sciences and engineering, 250 in life sciences (biology and medicine) and 162 in the social sciences and humanities. The average budget requested per project is 249,000 Swiss francs.

281 female researchers submitted an application, corresponding to 39% of projects. The highest number of applications by women were submitted in the social sciences and humanities, followed by biology and medicine, and mathematics, natural sciences and engineering.

More than half of the researchers who submitted an application plan to do research at a university in Switzerland (51%). The others are considering going to an ETH/EPF (41%).

Evaluation of applications

The applications will be evaluated in a single-stage process without interviews. Experts from the relevant disciplines will assess applications that meet the formal requirements. Two evaluators per project will independently prepare an evaluation report. Based on these reports, the applications will be ranked according to the evaluation best-practices applied by the SNSF.

In June 2024, applicants will be informed whether their project has been approved for funding.

Due to Switzerland's status as a non-associated third country in Horizon Europe, the federal government has mandated the SNSF to launch a new call for this transitional measure. The call is aimed at early-career researchers who wish to obtain a position at a non-profit research institution in Switzerland for 12 to 24 months.